Most of the factories in Israel do not safely store hazardous materials and are not fortified against missile attacks, according to an internal report by a committee set up by the Manufacturers Association in the wake of the Second Lebanon War.

The committee found that half of the factories that store dangerous materials on site are not fortified against rocket attacks, despite the fact that they are in the center of the country. Syria and Hezbollah, the Lebanese-based group backed by both Damascus and Tehran, are believed to have missiles that could reach central Israel.

"It seems that there are many organizations that that are not paying attention to the possibility of a spontaneous war that would put them in the range of rockets," the committee wrote in its report.

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"A large number of the factories in the center are doing nothing to prepare for war. In addition, it seems that because of the daily work burden of operating the factories, there is a tendency to postpone the preparations for war to an unknown date."

One of the investigation's central conclusions is that many factories are not prepared for an emergency situation lasting for more than a month.

"In the reality of a prolonged war, it seems that after a month, businesses would gradually collapse, a situation that could cause a domino effect resulting in industry coming to a halt," the report said.

"Many people note that had the war lasted an additional month, the raw material stock would have been depleted."

The report also expressed concerns about the long-term effect of such a situation on the industry.

"The subsequent damage to the possibilities of import and export would have caused irreversible damage to many factories, and the decrease in their business cycles would have, in many ways, been an economic deathblow."